Sunday, March 13, 2016

REPORT FROM BETHAN CUTLERLadies European Tour Media ManagerDongguan,
China: World No 35 Lee Jung-Min of South Korea stormed to her eighth
career title by a one-shot margin over compatriots Lee Seung-Hyun,
Kim Bo-Kyung and Ji Han Sol in the World Ladies Championship
at Mission Hills Resort Dongguan in China.

Despite
dropping two strokes in the last three holes, eight birdies in a final
round 66 for a nine-under-par total of 279 were just enough for Lee to hold on as her closest challengers
all blew their
chances in damp and testing conditions on the Olazabal Course.

It
was a nail-biting finish as the clubhouse leader Lee dropped into a
three-way share of the lead with namesake Lee and Ji at nine-under-par
after making bogey on
the final hole. She then watched as Lee then made the same mistake.

After Kim ended on eight under par, Ji needed to birdie the difficult par-4 18th
to tie. Although she hit an excellent approach shot that just edged the
hole, she pushed her birdie putt of 12 feet wide of the hole, meaning
that Lee could take home the individual title and €95,231.85 in prize
money.

There
was double cause for celebration as Lee also won the concurrent team
competition with partner Ko Jin-Young. An aggregate score of
12-under-par put the South Korean
pair 15 strokes ahead of the French duo Gwladys Nocera and Céline
Herbin, with Chinese Taipei duo Lin Tzi-Chi and Kuo Ai-Chen five strokes
further behind in third.

“I
was very surprised to win because I didn’t feel that I played my best
and I wasn’t in the leading group,” said Lee, 24, who earned three
titles on the Korean LPGA
Tour in 2015, having turned professional in 2009.

“My main goal this
year is to get my best ever score on the KLPGA Tour.”

Lee
completed nine holes of her third round earlier in the morning and
started the final round three shots off the lead, but overtook her
rivals with birdies on the
third, fourth, sixth, ninth, 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th holes.

Joint
runner-up Kim had seven birdies in a final round 69 while Lee
Seung-Hyun, a three-time winner on the Korean LPGA Tour, returned a
final round 71 along with the
first round leader Ji.

South
Korean Lee Min-Young was eighth on four-under-par, while Becky Morgan
of Wales (78-71--65-71 for 285) shared ninth and earned 14,285 euros with South Koreans Ko, Jung Hee Won
and Cho Jeong Min.
China’s Man Jin was the only amateur to make the cut and ended in equal
19th place.

This
was the first edition of the World Ladies Championship to be sanctioned
by the Korean LPGA Tour as well as the Ladies European Tour and China
LPGA and resulted
in nine KLPGA players in the top 12 places in total.

Other
notable performances came from the Australians Stacey Keating and Sarah
Kemp, Noora Tamminen of Finland and Céline Herbin of France, who were
part of a large
group sharing 19th.

SCOTSWATCH (by Colin Farquharson)|.Carly Booth (75-72-75-69) and Kylie Walker (74-74-74-69) tied for 37th place on three-over-par 291 and earned 4,7861 euros apiece.Pamela Pretswell, the only other Scot to survive the halfway cut, shot 78-71-74-72 for 295 and a share of 55th place. She earned 2,349 euros.Falkirk-based American Beth Allen (76-74) missed the cut by one stroke. Sally Watson shot 86-72 for 158, one better than Grantown on Spey amateur Hannah McCook (78-81 for 159.